Real Madrid lose Bale for at least a month

Madrid, Nov 24 (IANS) Spanish football giants Real Madrid will be without striker Gareth Bale for at least four weeks and possibly into 2017, the club has confirmed.

According to the official Real Madrid website (realmadrid.com), the Welsh international suffered "a traumatic dislocation of the peroneal tendons of his right ankle" during Tuesday night's Champions League tie away to Sporting Lisbon, reports Xinhua.

This is an injury which may or may not need surgery with the club explaining the treatment is "depending on the evolution" of the injury, but in the most optimistic of circumstances Bale will need around a month to recover.

It means he will not play again in 2016 and will miss both the derby match against away to FC Barcelona on December 3 and the World Club Championships in the middle of December.

However, there is a chance that he may need an operation to repair the damaged ligaments, in which case the recovery time would double to around two months, meaning it would be unlikely to reappear before the end of January.

The club has not announced now long left back Marcelo, who is also injured, will be sidelined for, but with Bale's name added to an injury list which already includes Tony Kroos and Alvaro Morata, Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane will hope for good news regarding the left back.

The positive for Zidane was that midfielder Casemiro was able to return to full training with his team-mates after around two months recovering from a broken bone in his leg, although he is unlikely to be fit to face Sporting Gijon in La Liga on Saturday.